Get Into Cryptocurrency Trading Today

When studying performance and cryptocurrency market trends (both holistically, and concerning individual tokens), the most common statistics which people tend to refer to are market capitalisation (or ‘market cap’) and token value.

It is fairly common knowledge as to which tokens top the charts with regards to market cap (1. Bitcoin, 2. Ethereum, 3. XRP, 4. Tether, 5. Bitcoin Cash): but a less prominently discussed, yet still important, statistic is the 24hr trading volume. This represents the most traded cryptos in terms of just how many U.S. dollars worth of tokens are traded in one day.

So which cryptocurrencies see the highest trading volume in a day? Continue reading to find out.

#1: Tether (USDT)

Tether is a centralized digital currency, a ‘stablecoin’ which serves the purpose of being a relatively stable token due to its value being ‘pegged’ to the US Dollar. It is just one of many tokens which fall under this label, which are pegged to fiat currencies.

USDT is also the most traded crypto in terms of 24hr trading volume: currently $65.58 billion, despite having a relatively small market cap ($8.76 billion) compared to others in the cryptocurrency markets.

This is likely because, being a ‘stablecoin’, it is used as an intermediary coin when trading two different values - or in between transactions whilst speculating on future trading decisions on an exchange / trading platform. This means that although the coin is traded a lot due to its size and notoriety, it sees less overall price movements due to rarely being the end goal for holding.

Additionally, as it is largely centralized: all numbers can only be verified sourced from entities such as exchanges rather than a public ledger like Ethereum or Bitcoin, making it less transparent.

#2: Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency token and blockchain network, and represents the pioneer of the first generation of the technology. It was invented by the enigmatic anonymous figure known by the pseudonym ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, and released alongside the whitepaper (‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System’) in 2008.

BTC tends to be a token which people hold onto for the long term rather than short selling etc (one of the reasons why Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency in the USA to see the release of Futures investment products).

Whilst Bitcoin has the largest market cap of all cryptocurrencies ($177.74 billion), it only holds the second spot in terms of 24hr volume with $55.77 billion. 

#3: Ethereum (Ether, ETH)

Like Bitcoin, Ether and the Ethereum network are decentralized with a publicly viewable and verifiable ledger; but it represents what could be seen as the ‘second generation’ of cryptocurrencies.

This is because Ethereum provides an infrastructure / platform for the development and deployment of custom smart contracts: allowing for the construction of independent networks, as well as token creation.

Ethereum was co-created and co-founded by Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood and released back in 2015: seven years after the initial release of Bitcoin. At third place, its trading volume in the last 24 hours was $19.8 billion: less than half that of Bitcoin.

#4: Litecoin (LTC)

Built upon / forked from Bitcoin Core and first released in 2011, open-source Litecoin was one of the earlier released alt-coins. It was created by Charlie Lee, who is also the Managing Director of the Litecoin Foundation. 

It is widely considered to be faster and cheaper to send transactions using Litecoin (LTC) compared to Bitcoin, and is arguably making it more of a digital currency than a digital asset for purely holding longer term.

Despite this, Litecoin holds a distant fourth place from the top three, with just $5.16 billion 24hr trading volume.

#5: Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Bitcoin Cash is at fifth place, with $3.56 billion 24hr trading volume. The most recent of the five, Bitcoin was created in 2017; and it split / forked in 2018, into Bitcoin SV and the chain in question which retained the original name. It is backed by Roger Ver, prominent cryptocurrency investor and entrepreneur; CEO of Bitcoin.com.

Like Litecoin (LTC): the primary selling point / operational purpose of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is to provide a cheaper and faster network (network can process greater number of transactions per second) than Bitcoin.

CFD stands for ‘Contract For Difference’. Unlike direct trading between peers (via a digital asset exchange or over-the-counter platform), trading a CFD for cryptocurrency sees the trader instead start trading through a trusted broker.

CFDs are complex instruments which offer a regulated form of trading, and enable leverage application to trading, thus maximising exposure with minimal capital investment required. It must be noted that there is also a high risk of losing more than your original investment. Before investing you should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage.

CFDs trading is available for all of the cryptocurrencies listed in this article by registering a trading account with brokers such as ‘Plus500’ and ‘eToro’ - the latter of which is available not only on website and desktop, but also via its official mobile app.

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